OtN: The Ones Left Behind
by mathmonkey167
Summary: One-shot of mainly Toothless and Lightning. Set near the beginning of OtN:CCF.


**Hello friends. Long time, no read. A lot has happened since I updated last. I'm not exactly returning to FF, but a friend suggested this one-shot and I decided to offer it up for public consumption.**

 **If you haven't read OtN or CCF, this won't make a lot of sense, but for those of you that have, this takes place around Chapter 5ish of CCF. I hope you enjoy it.**

"She's carrying again."

Toothless let that pertinent piece of information sink in for a moment. "How long have you known?"

"Long enough."

"Long enough that it should have come up between us by now?"

His mate, Lightning, gave nothing away with her expression, but her eyes spoke volumes. "You've had enough to deal with."

The sky was overcast, almost oppressive in its gloom. So had it seemed since… well, it had been grey for a while. They sat side by side, where they had been for the better part of the morning, watching every healer in Berk venture in and out of the Chief's house. Toothless made an attempt at nonchalance. "A human child is hardly something that I would be called to deal with—"

"Please," she retorted. "This isn't just any human. And…" She sounded pained, but Toothless just waited. He did not doubt her courage to say what was on her mind, though he hardly needed her to say it. They both knew full well that humans were not so hardy as dragons, and Astrid had not been herself lately. In any way. The past few days had been particularly disturbing. She was not the hearty woman they all knew, respected, and loved. Especially since… well, Toothless had been more prepared to attribute her listlessness to recent events. But Lightning was never wrong about this sort of thing. For better, or for worse.

"… Your boy would never be the same," she finally murmured.

"Hiccup has not been a boy for quite some time."

"He will always be your boy."

Toothless sighed heavily. "I know… I know. He has always been so strong, for himself, for me, for everyone on this island and even beyond. He has never thought twice about his own life, but…"

"… But he dwells on the lives of those in his care, those he loves," she finished quietly.

Fighting back a sudden surge of anxiety, Toothless ground his teeth. "But Astrid is fierce, and she carried the rest so well. Surely this will not be so different."

Lightning's gaze was filled with concern and compassion. "You were with Hiccup that day, when the young woman— when the healers could not save her. When they lost the child not long after. It was only a few days after our s—"

He interrupted her. He had no interest in thinking about his _son_ at the moment. "I know. But that was a completely different circumstance."

"Astrid is nearly twice that woman's age. Humans usually do not bring new life into the world past a certain age, and Astrid has passed that threshold. She could be in serious danger, and there will be nothing any of us can do about it."

"The healers will not let anything happen to her or the baby. Hiccup would cut off his other foot rather than allow something like that."

"If it were up to Hiccup, no one would ever die," Lightning pointed out. "It isn't in his hands."

When Toothless remained silent, she continued. "He is going to need you. Whatever happens, whatever has happened, you had each other first, and he is going to need you by his side to see it all through."

Before he could think of a response, Stormfly appeared from her post on the far side of the house, just beneath the window of Hiccup and Astrid's room. Catching sight of them, she trudged over.

"The healers think they have identified the problem," she sniffed as she settled to the ground. "Astrid is carrying again." At this pronouncement, Toothless shot a glance at his mate, but Lightning was entirely focused on Stormfly.

"Really," she said, and Stormfly either didn't know or didn't care that it wasn't a question.

"Really. They were just telling her—"

All three of them swiveled their heads as raised voices, one in particular, could be heard from within the house. " _WHAT DO YOU MEAN, BED REST?!_ " then: " _UNTIL IT'S BORN?! GET. OUT!_ " More commotion followed, and within moments every healer could be seen streaming out of the front door of the house as if pursued by a flock of demon Terrors.

Blinking, Toothless turned back to see a relieved smile on Lightning's face. "Poor Hiccup," he muttered sympathetically.

"He's the one who got her into this mess," Stormfly said darkly.

Lightning snorted. "I'm not so sure. If I recall correctly, Astrid is the one who tied Hiccup naked to the—"

"You aren't supposed to tell anyone about that!" Stormfly hissed, glancing back and forth as though expecting a crowd of dragons and villagers to appear and loudly spread the word that Hiccup had no problem with dominant women, in particular, those in his immediate family.

"It's okay, Hiccup already spilled to me," Toothless tried and failed to grin gleefully. It came out more like a grimace, though Stormfly didn't seem to notice.

"She'll be alright, she just has to follow directions… for once in her life…" the Nadder seemed to be convincing herself of her girl's safety, and Toothless felt a pang in his chest.

"She will be okay. If I have to instruct every dragon on this island to ensure she does not leave that house, I will. I'm sure Hiccup will be telling the villagers to do the same."

"And she does listen to Hiccup, doesn't she?" Stormfly brightened at the thought.

"Almost exclusively," Toothless affirmed.

Getting to her feet, Stormfly gestured down the hill. "I'm ready to eat, will you both join me?"

Before Toothless had a chance to consider his own hunger, Lightning was already declining. "We are going fishing ourselves, but thank you."

Stormfly nodded and flew off toward the center of the village.

"We're going fishing?" Toothless asked. His mate nodded. "What about the—"

"Our own children are with Hiccup's children and all are under the watchful eye of Cloudjumper and Valka for the rest of the day."

Toothless thought about asking what they were up to, then realized that wasn't the point of the exercise. "I take it the rest of the village is under Cinder's watchful eye for the rest of the day as well?"

"As it just so happens, yes." Lightning stood, stretched, and spread her wings.

"Then I suppose we had better make the most of it."

—-

Several hours later, Toothless opened his eyes, and took in their meadow. So many joyous moments had been spent here, most of them with his still-sleeping mate. Beautiful awake, peaceful in sleep. Yet again he wondered how he had managed to secure her for life, and yet again had no answer except gratitude.

Whatever moment she had planned for them today had simply become nap time, as both of them had been stretched thin with… everything that had happened. Toothless could hardly begin to unravel that tangled mess. Shade… was gone. And Aeri. They were both _gone_ , vanished without a trace. What was he supposed to make of that? What was anyone supposed to make of it? His heart ached, but his mind countered with raw anger.

"What are you thinking about?"

Startled, he glanced down to see one blue eye open, peering up at him. "I… don't know."

The other eye opened. "I don't know, either. And it's driving me to distraction."

For a moment they just gazed into each other's eyes. He could sense her uncertainty, her hurt. But he also sensed her comforting presence, and a hunger for it opened wide in his very being. "I need you, love." His voice shook with pain and longing, and he pressed his face into her neck to breathe her in.

"I'm here."

The clouds parted, and sunlight poured over them.

—-

 **Of course, this interlude may or may not have resulted in a certain rascally hatchling. Who knows?**

 **Cheers, friends. Stay wonderful. -MM**


End file.
